Out to the darkling High, where the cad and the commoner struggle,
Out to the noise, and the din, and the crowd of the unwashed mechanics,
Went forth De Whyskers the bold, brimfull of the valour of Holland,
Flashed both his eyes in the dark with a gleam that was quite meteoric,
As flashes the pheasant's tail when he hears the first gun in October.
Now with a yell and a spring the cads came up to the onset,
Cursing and swearing amain, and throwing their arms out like thunder.
Stopping before All Saints' the hideous work of Dean Aldrich,
Stopping De Whyskers made emphatic the sign for the battle,
Thereon he let fall a blow swift like an armourer's hammer,